Sixty-one-year old Robert Taylor was a forestry worker in the Dechmont woods in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland. On the morning of Friday, November 9, 1979, he and his red setter were doing duty in the forest when he was shocked to see a UFO hovering above the ground. The object was totally motionless, and silent.

The object was dark gray in color and had a texture to it, with brighter areas reflecting above a duller background. The exterior of the craft seemed to morph from time to time, which made Taylor think it was trying to render itself invisible.

He estimated the object to be about 20 feet in diameter and 12 feet tall.

It had a ring of a sort around it, which caused it to appear like a brim on a hat. Protruding from the outside of the UFO were stems pointing up, and topped with propellers.

All at once, two small spheres came from the object. They made a sound as their spikes moved over the earth. They came to a stop beside him, grabbing his trousers, and began to drag him back to the UFO. The spiked objects were very similar to the UFO, only smaller. Taylor could smell a strong, sickening odor. He lost consciousness.

When he regained consciousness, the spheres were gone, but his red setter was still there. The dog was panicky, running around and barking. Taylor tried to calm him down, but found that his voice was gone. He was very weak, and when he tried to stand, he couldn't. He crawled for a time until he was able to stand again.

He finally made it back to his pick-up truck and tried to radio his work headquarters via his two-way, but still could not speak.

Attempting to drive his truck back home, he got stuck in the mud, so he started a long walk of about a mile back to his house. He arrived at 11:45 AM.

His experience had lasted a little over an hour. Finally, his voice was returning. He had developed a great thirst by the time he was home. Taylor would feel ill for a time after his experience with the UFO and two spheres, and he could still smell the awful odor from the forest.

When his wife saw him, she was shocked. He had mud all over him, and his pants were torn. He began to tell her of his ordeal with the UFO. His wife urged him to call the police, but Taylor felt that they would only laugh at him. Instead, he called his job supervisor,
Malcom Drummond. Taylor went to clean himself up.

Drummond called a doctor, and he drove directly to Taylor's house. He was so eager to hear Taylor's story that he questioned him while he was in the tub. Drummond and Taylor both felt that there should be physical proof of the incident in the forest. Since the doctor was coming to check out Taylor, Drummond headed to the scene via Taylor's instructions, but he could not find the right location.

Dr. Gordon Adams would examine Taylor for his injuries. He found two scrapped places on Taylor, one on his left leg, and the other under his chin. Taylor had no apparent head injuries, and his body temperature, blood pressure, and other body signs were all within normal limits. Dr. Adams insisted on Taylor getting a head X-ray to rule out a concussion, and talk to a counselor, but Taylor put off the hospital visit until later.

As soon as Drummond returned, Taylor joined him as the two went directly to the scene of the incident in the forest. Ground marking were obvious, and they called the police. Taylor, along with his wife, did go to the hospital for testing, but left when he grew tired of waiting to be seen. He had a trip planned for the weekend to see relatives, and was in a hurry to get things done for the journey.

Soon, the press was aware of the Taylor's encounter, and in just a couple of days, the story was known all over the United Kingdom. Soon, it would be world-wide news, and eventually become the subject of television documentaries, magazines, and books. In time, a plaque would be erected at the site, but it was stolen.

The local police department was not experienced in dealing with UFO cases, but they did file a report with interviews of all of those involved. Since an assault was part of the case, the police were obliged to send off Taylor's clothes for forensic examination.

The only unusual thing found was traces of a powder, which was identified simply as contact transfer from the sack the clothes were shipped in.

Police did a thorough search of records of military and civilian flight logs, and found nothing was flown over or near the forest that morning. The ground marks at the scene did not match any of the equipment used in the work in the forest.

Two types of ground markings were found at the scene. The first marks were two parallel ladder-like tracks, each about 2.5 meters long, and the same distance apart. There were also 40 holes around the tracks. They were 10 centimeters across. In other words, there was undeniable proof that something had been on that spot in the forest very recently.

Taylor was known by many people in the area, and they all viewed him as honest and responsible. There is nothing to indicate that he would hoax an incident of this nature.

He did have a history of several illnesses, and surgeries, but there was nothing in his medical history that would indicate he had any type of head injury or psychosis that could lead to an imaginary event.

A timeline done by a UFO investigator to determine the length of time that Taylor was unconscious proved that Taylor was probably out of it for about twenty minutes, give or take.

If we take Taylor's account as is, he was abducted by something "other-worldly" on November 9, 1979 for about twenty minutes. There has been no evidence presented to repudiate his claims.